Do I need to close my adjustable GB a little?

[PigOPs]

I have noticed that the necks on my brass have carbon on them and that the primer is also flattened somewhat. I think I may also see ejector pin marks?? Can you take a look at these pics and advise me whether or not it's normal:







18" mid-length gas with AGB
Hornady 123 AMax Factory ammo

Much appreciated!!!

[LRRPF52]

Looks like a slightly warm load, but nothing alarming I can see. Most of my brass looks like that, but I don't see ejector shadow until I'm getting into maximum charge weights and higher.

You can try taming your system some with the gas block, and see what happens, but keep in mind what runs well in the summer might not in the winter.

[Bwild97]

That looks exactly like the Hornady factory 123g Amax ammo that is fired from my rifle; flat primers, light ejector/ extractor shadowing. 24" 6.5 Grendel SAAMI chamber. I don't believe that you can adjust for this with an adjustable gas block. The shadow is created instantly as the projectile fully engages the lands and groves of the bore and gas pressures peak. This event is occurring before the projectile has moved past the gas port.

[Azprc]

Primer looks pretty flat. Is this primer consistent with everybody else's load?

[ss355]

I'll have to check, but I don't see any flattened primers with the Hornady 123 Amax load. In my 24" .264 LBC barrel I do see ejector marks regularly, but I thought that was a product of the 24" tube with a rifle-length gas system. I don't have any brass I can trace back to the 16" mid-length (November of last year was the last time I shot it), but I don't recall seeing either flattened primers or ejector marks.

[PigOPs]

Bumping this back to the top for one more question:

Would you hesitate to use this brass to reload?

Thanks!
Pig

[Bwild97]

I wouldn't worry about it, I have reloaded mine several times now. Bolt face shadow is still visible on most of the 20 factory cases I put over my chrony about a month ago. They sized fine and load just as well